BBKA Forum

Just had a quick looks at my bees and one of the colonies is massive (new queen last year and sold as buckfast but not convinced) bees boiling over the sides like it's the height of summer. Also my cheap ebay scales has misled me and I have given them fondant when they didn't need it and it looks as though they have been taking it down like it autum and storing it. So question is although i have removed tge fondant and looks like she is laying well she doesn't have a lot of room so should I take out some of the capped frames and put in some foundation. Another option is to nadir this one with a second brood box ready for a split in a few months.

Having lots of stores is great. Having a boiling over colony in February is also great. Having lots of brood is fine.

Don't take any frames of food out. You never know , we might have a beast from the east again in March.

I would if you really do believe they need extra space either nadir or super with another box.

Chrisbarlow wrote:Having lots of stores is great. Having a boiling over colony in February is also great. Having lots of brood is fine.

Don't take any frames of food out. You never know , we might have a beast from the east again in March.

I would if you really do believe they need extra space either nadir or super with another box.

Definitely loads of bees, must 30,000+but i don't have enough drawn comb to make up a new BB at this time. If i nadir with drawn comb would they just walk all over it or use it if they really need it do you think? alternatively i could give them a drawn super but would be a more practical for a later split if i could get them working on a second BB.

Then go with nadiring with a super box and drawn comb. If they really do need the space then they'll move into it. What you might find though come April if you were spot on with your assessment is that it might also have brood in it, this doesn't matter at all, you can then put it above the brood box and a queen excluder under the super and make sure your queen is in the brood box. The brood will hatch out of the super and it's back to being a super.

Sounds sensible option and colony doing well. One of the effects of feeding fondant can be stimulating the queen to lay.

Putting a super of drawn comb underneath is a minimal intervention whereas taking out frames or adding a top box is a significant disturbance to the status quo and personally I would not be attempting anything like that in February. It is unlikely they would draw foundation this time of year, so the bees may simply treat it as dead space. Unless there is a flow on, foundation tends to be ignored.

Agree with Chris If they are that strong now and there is a poor weather spell in March they could easily hit the increasing colony vs declining stores problem many experienced last year.

I would also be planning proactive swarm control management for that colony, young queen or not it’s on a trajectory to need two brood boxes by spring and could be trying to leg it early.

A nice problem to have though

I agree and leave empty supers from the summer under the brood boxes over winter. They usually had some left over honey the bees clean up, they provide some protection from draughts from the omf and they act as extra space insurance in late winter. Having said that I have never found any brood in one of the under supers when inspected in March/April. There is always a first time and this may be such a spring. I haven't looked in but from the debris on the Varroa tray, I get the impression that there are a lot of bees and they are very busy.

What did you go with in the end thewoodgatherer ?

Put a super under

Looking at my notes this hive was still raising loads of brood late last year and this is the main reason I have given them plenty of fondant. This hive actually had a super under it which I had put under late last Autumn and the plan was to remove it and maybe DB later in the year but I have taken your advice and put the super back under yesterday. I must say they are certainly very keen at the moment as are my others but to a lesser extent, I guess the almost inevitable down turn in the weather will put pay to that at some point. Looking at the brace comb under the glass quilt which they have also filled from the fondant I reckon if I had a super on top along with the fondant they would probably take it down and start filling it

Sterling, good luck with the colony, it sounds like a good one to appraise and consider to new raise queens from this season.